Clark Haaland

Thrive on the Raging Sea

"Be grateful that on this raging sea you have a mind to guide you." - Marcus Aurelius

If you feel overwhelmed, trust me, you're not alone.

But remember this:

The explorer doesn't set out on the voyage trusting that the seas will remain calm to stay perfectly on course.

Rather, the explorer trusts in the preparation and the... See more

October 2024

I'm usually reluctant to make predictions about technology, but I feel fairly confident about this one: in a couple decades there won't be many people who can write.

One of the strangest things you learn if you're a writer is how many people have trouble writing. Doctors know how many people have a mole they're worried about; people who... See more

The philosopher Kierkegaard wrote 150 years ago, and he was one of the first psychological philosophers who really wrote about anxiety. He regarded himself rather useless, all things considered. He wrote a section in one of his books about all the industrialists who were operating in Europe at that time, trying in every possible way to make life... See more

Measure your composure every day.

Let's break this down.

There are two important components here:

1.) The distinction of composure , and

2.) Measurement as an improvement mechanism.

Composure is straightforward enough: it’s the extent to which someone is in control of their behavior.

If we get swept away by our emotions or impulses, we have low... See more

“There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God; those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it.”

-Brother Lawrence, Carmelite monk of the 1600s France

because of their propensity to hop domains, generalists tend to possess a wide set of shallow skills. But measuring them against their rudimentary coding abilities or their working knowledge of French baking technique misses their true advantage: the ability to adapt to new situations, and the desire to do so.